On Tuesday, Belize Rural North resident, Trevor Vernon paid half his costs to attorney Denys Barrow, in coins…twenty-five hundred dollars worth on behalf of Minister of State Edmond Castro, who on a technicality won a case brought against him by Vernon for breaching the code of conduct as a government minister. And by Wednesday evening, the court’s bailiff was knocking on Vernon’s door to collect the balance. Vernon now has three days to pay the balance owed, but in the meantime items at his home have been crow-footed, to be sold at auction if Vernon can’t come up with the balance in a hurry. Crow-footing is generally considered an act of last resort after all attempts to collect a debt have failed. The thing is, the decision was just handed down on May nineteenth, a little over a week ago, so it can’t really be called a last resort collection attempt. Attorney Arthur Saldivar, who sat in on the Vernon case at its inception, says it is nothing more than intimidation.

Arthur Saldivar, Attorney for the Coyes

“I will denounce strongly and condemn the blatant act of intimidation and oppression exercised against Mr. Trevor Vernon. I think all Belizeans should take note that we are living in a very dangerous and peculiar time when a man can go before an order is issues and make payment of fifty percent of the order that would eventually be given the day after, and the party that’s receiving the funds goes to the court to get an order the next day, and on that very day go to exercise a writ of execution. It’s indicative of bad faith, its mean-spirited, it’s anti-democratic and it certainly does not put back taxpayer funds in the coffers of the BAA that are still missing today. So in relation to Trevor Vernon that was a total abuse of a citizen’s right so what that is telling us right now is that any citizen who sees and appreciates wrong-doing by government officials would basically be going outside of the protection of the constitution if they take a case to court. That cannot be the message that we send in a democratic society in Belize today. So I condemn what happened to Trevor Vernon. So I will say this. Should it be countenanced in relation to anybody associated with me again, it will not be taken so lightly.”

If it is intimidation, it seems to have worked. On Tuesday, Vernon indicated that after paying the costs, he would file against Castro again. But by Thursday, Vernon was claiming, at least in the social media, that he is backing out completely.

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Nothing new, nothing surprising. This is consistent with the DNA of the UDP. Thuggery, intimidation, crass behaviour, malice, and vindictiveness. We have seen it all before. Said Musa made a horrible mistake in being so conciliatory to UDPs in the last PUP administration. They do not relate to this. They see this as weakness. And on that belief, this kind of behaviour emanates. The same kind of thinking applies to Evan X Hyde. He keeps stressing in his editorials that the PUP keeps failing to exploit the failure of this regime. The thing is this. The PUP has always adhered to the principles of the “peaceful constructive revolution”. The party knows the votes are there on election day. Therefore, there is no need to behave like thugs in the street, making noise and breaking up the place. That is the difference between PUP vs UDP/NIP south-side thinking. Unfortunately, this kind of thinking is likely to go throw the window as many in the UDP have too much to answer for.

WHAT I AM READING HERE IS VERY DANGEROUS. THIS IS A VERY DANGEROUS PRACTICE THE DEAN BARROW GOVERNMENT IS PRACTICING THESE DAYS. THIS SMELLS SO STINK. IT’S LOOKING LIKE TYRANNY IN THE HIGHEST SENSE. WHEN IT’S TIME TO TAKE THE CROOKED MINISTER TO COURT THEY BLOCK THAT PROCESS FROM ALL CORNERS, EVEN UP TO THE HIGHEST RANK IN THE POLICE FORCE BLOCKING THAT PROCESS. BARROW TAKES AWAY COMPANIES. HE DISREGARDS COURT RULINGS. HE PUTS HIS FAMILIES IN HIGHEST POSITIONS. NOW LOOK HOW FAST THEY MOVED TO PASS JUDGEMENT ON THIS FELLOW? SWIFT ACTION TAKEN. DRAGGING THEIR FOOT ON THE CROOKED MAN AND OTHERS. BARROW U DI LOOK FI D COUNTRY GET RILED UP ON U. THING IS IF HE WAS IN OPPOSITION HE WOULD HAVE ALREADY GOTTEN UP THE CITIZENS RILED UP AND CAUSING DEMONSTRATIONS ALL OVER THE PLACE. WEH HAPPEN TO DI OPPOSITION? ARE TEHY SO WEAK? SO AFRAID FOR BARROW? UNU KNOW SHY PEOPLE VOTED FI BARROW? EVEN DI PUP DEM? CAUSE AS DI ACTIONS WEH HE TOOK WEN HE MI EENA OPPOSITION. DIS PUP DEM LOOK LIKE THEY FEEBLE THESE DAYS. SOMEBODY GOT TO DO SOMETHING FI STOP DIS YA BARROW WHO GONE OUTTA CONTROL. IT NO RIGHT. DIS YOUNG MAN PAID IN GOOD FAITH AND RITE AFTER THEY PASSED AN INJUNCTION ON HIM. WAHT ABOUT THE SWIFTNESS NEEDED TO TAKE PLACE ON THE OUTRIGHT CROOKS? VERNON WASN’T DOING ANYTHING WRONG AND NOW HE IS BEING PRESSURED. B A R R O O W E LOOL LIKE POWA DI GET TO U HEAD AND U N THE MISSA HEAD A JUSTICE AND MISSA HEAD A POLICE AND MISS DPP, ALL A UNU WAH REAP WEH UNU DI SOW. MARK MY WORDS. THIS IS WHY COUNTRIES START TO REBEL AGAINST THEIR LEADERS. WHEN DI PEOPLE GET ENUFF DEH GET ENUFF. AH NO SURE IF DI PUP DEH REALLY GAT ENUFF BALLS THOUGH. THEY LOOK TOOO BLOOMIN FEEBLE THESE DAYS. LIKE THEY HANDS ARE TIED. DA WEH GAAAN AAAAN FONSEKA??

Castro want more money for more booty calls apparently all the money that was given to him from BAA was not enough so now all this packing of no mothers arrogants ,selfish and worst”IGNORANTS” will try to do tn any one who will stand up for their rights .WHAt a SHAME MAN when you see the kind of ministers ……oh pardon me …..”SINISTERS” you really wonder were the hell we are going.